What is Content Marketing?
The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as a strategic marketing approach focused on:
• creating and distributing valuable, relevant,
and consistent content
• attracting and retaining a clearly defined
audience
• driving profitable customer action
We were certified as a content marketer in 2015 before it became known as a major marketing focus.
Reality check - the internet has become saturated with content, advertising, overkill, addictive use, abuses, scammers, and spammers, and constant changes by the tech firms that dominate the cyber space : Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Twitter to name a few.
Content marketing has become the go-to
strategy for internet marketers who want to help their clients increase
their Google exposure, their business brand, and ultimately the bottom
line. It is the key component in "SEO" or search engine optimization,
along with reviews and social engagement. Google likes updated relevant
information that shows the author is an authority in their industry, and
that there is engagement with the content.
Content marketing research and automation of creating engaging content are now the new buzzwords in the industry of digital marketing. This blog post from 2017 is being updated with the latest information for small business owners who need SEO for better page ranking but are overwhelmed with choices and costs for many different types of programs available.,
For our content marketing and SEO services we integrate them for the best combination of prioritized service time and cost for the small business owner. As creative webmasters, we help clients set up the tools needed and have a basic understanding of what they do and how we plan to use them for their websites, blogs, Facebook page, and / or YouTube channel. Some of these tools are free such as Google search console and Google My Business. Others have a low monthly cost.
Depending on the client's needs we will suggest the best tools and how much time we can spend each week using them for the client and the budget needed for this. No annual contract needed. We go month to month and show results increasing over time.
The challenge of content marketing for small business owners is how to decide what to use and how will benefit the business for new customers or repeat business. The opportunity is to gain more authority in the eyes of Google and in better page ranking for searches of keywords relevant to your services and products.
Facebook and Content Marketing - It's Not Just About the Likes
Billions of users and posts every day. Timelines and news feeds are swamped. How does a content marketer break through all the noise to help business accounts get seen, and to have some engagement in the content posted? It's not just about how many "likes" a post gets, although that is an indicator that the content has some appeal. Usually, the content has a link to a blog, or third party article, and the user clicks through and does not actually click the like button. When there are a lot of likes, comments, and shares, then the content that was posted can be considered successful. However, a post on Facebook may also be successful when the traffic is measured on the landing page that is linked to.
Engagement can be seen on all three levels. Shares are free PR for the business that posted the content. There is some pushback on Facebooks advertising, as many people do not like to see ads or content that their friends liked and that now shows up in their timelines. Content needs to be carefully planned with the target audience as well as the image shown or video, and text used in the post. In another blog post I focused on two top titles that research showed having the highest levels of engagement. Sometimes the titles alone can make or break the level of response.
Consider the following ideas for better engagement with Twitter and Facebook posts:
> Educational content is popular. Help solve people's problems, learn something new.
> Use titles that have had a strong engagement response from research (link-see blog on titles)
> Use recorded or live videos to increase engagement and create more personal message
> Use events to highlight and showcase important dates, then use the link of the event post
> Use rhymes as a way of displaying unique content (link-see Rhymes blog post)
> Use the higher traffic dates and times as well as the lesser traffic for less competition
> Monitor posts with insights to see the best levels of engagement for certain posts
> Use industry relevant third party articles that have already had a strong level of engagement
> Use non business content - inspirational nature photos with quotes. People like inspiration.
> When using paid boosting of content, use $5.00 one day market tests to check engagement level
Internet users are saturated with content. Attention spans are short, requiring a strong visual engagement to keep attention on the post or tweet, strong titles, and relevant, compelling content to keep the engagement strong. It's a challenge, and it is also an opportunity for new ideas, new creativity, humor, and a touch of the muse for inspiration. (link- see blog - The Legend of the Marketing Muse.
Also see The Future of Content Marketing >
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